Sports-Related Concussions & Subconcussive Injuries

New rules in place by the Ivy League for the 2011 football season - including a reduction in the number of full-contact practices and drills - were designed to protect student-athletes from subconcussive hits considered a possible cause of long-term brain injury,

Eating foods rich in Omega 3's (DHA or fish oil), such as tunafish or salmon, twice a week, is good  because they heart-healthy and may protect the brain against concussion, says sports nutritionist Nancy Clark.

Until recently, says Edward Feldman, DC, RCST, treatment options for post-concussion syndrome were fairly limited, but new therapies offer hope to some patients for recovery from traumatic brain injury.

Using technology developed for use by the U.S. military in combat helmets as a springboard, a Canadian company, Impakt Protective Inc., recently introduced a revolutionary head impact sensor called Shockbox^TM. Installed in a player's helmet, the sensor triggers an alert on a smart phone any time a player suffers an "at risk" hit that may be concussive.

Because her daughter Heidi was experiencing post-concussion syndrome (PCS), and because her concussion made several pre-existing conditions worse, says Dorothy Bedford, a large team of different specialists - both traditional and alternative - were consulted in managing her care.

Craniosacral therapy and the Feldenkrais Method can help concussion recovery, says Edward Feldman, D.C., RCST.

Although her daughter Heidi had suffered multiple concussions in the past (one in second grade during recreational skating, the second more serious concussion in a collision with a softball teammate in ninth grade), and despite thinking she was "concussion savvy," Dorothy Bedford says that, three to four weeks after Heidi suffered a third concussion warming up for an ice hockey game during her junior year in high school, she was unprepared for the "mysterious journey" that lay ahead for both of them.

Early in her daughter Heidi's concussion recovery, pain killers (Tylenol and prescription medications, Percocet, Toradol), which numbed her headaches and helped her overcome the sleep disturbances associated with her concussion, says Dorothy Bedford.

After sustaining a series of hits to her head during the previous week's training, Heidi Taggart asked her ice hockey coach to be excused from goaltending during a game in February 2010 when she began experiencing "flu-like" symptoms.  He told her to "suck it up" and take the ice. During pre-game warm-ups, a teammate's stick hit Heidi in the head during the follow-through from a wrist shot.  She immediately began experiencing concussion symptoms (headache, disorientation, drowsiness), but the injury was not initially thought to be too serious.   It was anything but. As her mom, Dorothy Bedford, now recalls, the road Heidi travelled from that Friday night on the way to recovery from post-concussion syndrome would be marked by a long series of "unmarked detours" taking fourteen months and requiring treatment from more than 10 different medical specialists.